Famed for his willingness to fight and his desperation for legacy, Terence Crawford retired as an undefeated pound-for-pound great just a few months ago.
However, when reflecting on his career, there is one opponent whom ‘Bud’ wishes he could have fought.
Crawford became boxing’s third four-belt undisputed champion when he trumped Julius Indongo to take control of all four titles back in August 2017, before repeating the feat up at welterweight six years later with a dominant beatdown of Errol Spence Jr.
Last September, Crawford then made the sizeable jump up to super-middleweight, where he dethroned long-reigning 168lb superstar Canelo Alvarez to become the first three-division undisputed titleholder since Henry Armstrong in 1938.
Soon after, the Omaha operator announced his retirement from the sport, hanging up the gloves with a record of 42-0 at the age of 38 years old.
Despite all of his success, Crawford admitted that the man he most wishes he could have fought is boxing’s only eight-division champion, Manny Pacquiao, in a clip captured by Jai McAllister.
“Pacquiao, for sure. 1000%.
Man, I tried to fight Pacquiao for [so long]. That was a fight that I was chasing for years, since I was 140lbs.
“To see him fight [Adrien] Broner, Tim Bradley, Keith Thurman and all of those fights. I was like, man, what is going on. These guys is not [on my level].
“I am [up] here, [on a level above,] and he was fighting these guys. I just couldn’t understand it.”
While Crawford has retired, Pacquiao remains active, still competing at 47.
Last year, “PacMan” faced then–WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios and was widely considered unlucky not to claim the title after the judges ruled the bout a draw. The Filipino legend is now set for a September rematch against former rival Floyd Mayweather, with the fight scheduled to take place in Las Vegas and stream live on Netflix.
